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Jordan, Palestine & Israel

Program #BARR001.
Recorded in Amman, Jordan
on April 28, 2017.

Jordan is often overlooked in discussions on the Middle East. Its borders were drawn by British imperial cartographers after WW1. It’s wedged among more powerful states. It has a large Palestinian population, refugees from the naqba of 1948 and the 1967 war. In later years it also has had a huge influx of refugees from Kuwait, Iraq and Syria. The latter number exceeds one million. Jordan is ruled by a hereditary Hashemite king. The monarchy has absolute power. There are internal tensions in the country that so far have ben kept under control. The large Palestinian population has a big share of the economy. The kingdom’s alliance with the U.S. makes some Jordanians very uncomfortable. Interviewed by David Barsamian